My Teams

It's been a good season.  Phils are competitive in post-season.  Iggles difficult to beat. Mizzou at its highest national ranking and most consistent performances in memory.  Not so sure about UPenn.  U of D ranked in its football class.

Red Smith, the iconic sports reporter of the NY Times, commented that while sports doesn't move the world, how people choose to allocate the time that is most theirs says a lot about the people.  And we fill stadiums, support sports networks, pay pro athletes handsomely, and buy the products we see advertised during our games.

And Red Smith flourished in a more congenial world than we have now.  Or sometimes not, as his long career spanned a depression, a world war, civil rights antagonisms including integration of sports, and Vietnam.  

In our fractious time, a decade when people provoke each other, seeking constant one-upmanship with the person next to them, our home teams may be the last bastion of common purpose.  We seek to best rivals, for sure, but we also recognize the excellent talents of stars from all teams.  Those no-hitters get a cheer, even at the expense of our own team.  While viewing the games, we don't particularly care about an athlete's ethnicity, only his performance.  And while we work hard but fear for our longevity with our companies, they accept the transient nature of their team affiliations, either displacement by a better talent, graduation from school, or the free agency of athletic mercenaries.  The players are really like us, though usually more so.

There are rivalries, for sure.  A few approach toxic:  Yankees-Red Sox, Cowboys-most any other reputable NFL squad, Harvard-Yale, Oklahoma-Oklahoma State.  But no credible threats to personal safety.  Despite this, stadiums ban weapons and items like umbrellas that can be converted to means of assault.  And we have a safe space where the many open carry advocates never seem to sue to keep their pistol with them in their skybox.  

For a few scheduled events, several a week in most major cities, people don't have to be prodded to be good municipal representatives.  They already are.